Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Liverpool could line up for Wednesday’s EFL Cup last-16 clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot may once again be working around a quintet of injury concerns for Wednesday’s EFL Cup clash with Brighton & Hove Albion in the last 16.
The Reds could not call upon any of Federico Chiesa (fitness), Conor Bradley (unspecified), Harvey Elliott (foot), Alisson Becker (hamstring) or Diogo Jota (abdominal) for the weekend’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal in the Premier League, and the latter three will definitely sit out Wednesday’s game too.
The statuses of Chiesa and Bradley are less clear – Slot should confirm their availability in his pre-game press conference – but the former will certainly not be thrown back into action straight away.
Bradley would be an option to step in for Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back if fit enough, but while there are no guarantees on the Northern Irishman’s fitness, his English colleague should continue to hold the fort.
The Reds boss may alter the rest of his backline, though, as Joe Gomez, Jarell Quansah and Kostas Tsimikas should all earn starts in front of Caoimhin Kelleher, unless Slot opts for Vitezslav Jaros in between the sticks.
The last-16 tie is also an ample opportunity to rest Alexis Mac Allister, whose spot should be taken by Wataru Endo, but the calibre of opposition will likely see Ryan Gravenberch hold his place as Tyler Morton hopes to make an impact off the bench.
Injuries up top means that there ought to be no respite for Mohamed Salah or Darwin Nunez either, but Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai are primed to demote Luis Diaz and Curtis Jones to the bench.
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Quansah, Tsimikas; Endo, Gravenberch; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Nunez
> Click here to see how Brighton could line up for this clash
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